Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A plea deal has been worked out with one of the two men charged with being involved in a robbery of a Rochester business during which an employee was stabbed.

According to court documents, 20-year-old Bilal Ali Hilowe and 26-year-old Ahmed Abdulqadir Ali were charged last May with barging into the AT&T cell phone store near the Crossroads Hy-Vee location while the employees were closing for the day around 8:30 PM. Rochester police were alerted to the situation by a regional manager who was able to view the break-in remotely through a connection to the store's surveillance cameras.

Ali - Olmsted County ADC photo
Ali - Olmsted County ADC photo
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The criminal complaints filed against two men indicated the responding officers were told by the store manager that he had been robbed by two black males dressed all in black who fled from the store. The responding officers also reported finding another employee in the store's office suffering from a knife wound.

The charges state that the store manager heard someone entering numbers on the keypad at the rear door to the building just before he spotted two suspects approaching and one of them was armed with a knife. The court document indicates the store manager then described how he was ordered to get onto his knees in the bathroom and remove his phone.

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According to the criminal complaint, the store manager told the officers the robber with a knife slid the blade in front of his mouth and ordered him to be quiet before he was taken into the room holding the business' safe and was ordered to open it. The manager then stated that he complied with the robbers demand, but also told them the safe was equipped with a feature that required a 10 minute waiting period before the door would actually open.

Rochester police were told that the store employee with the knife wound was injured during the struggle with the robbers that occurred after the manager managed to lock himself inside the safe room while the robbers distracted by rummaging through a box of returned phones. The employee's injuries were described as a large laceration to the calf area of one of his legs.

Kim David/TSM
Kim David/TSM
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The charges state that Hilowe and Ali were later apprehended after responding police officers spotted them in the parking lot at the Crossroads Shopping Center. The document also says a fixed blade knife that appeared to have blood on it was found outside the door to the AT&T store, near a number of cell phones and a smart watch. Two bags containing cell phones were also located in the trash in a nearby laundromat business.

A Petition to Plead Guilty that was recently filed in Olmsted County Court indicates Hilowe has agreed to enter a guilty plea to a charge of first-degree aggravated robbery in exchange for the dismissal of the other charges against him. The document says prosecutors will request a 41 month prison term when he is sentenced in April.

Ali previously entered a not guilty plea to a first-degree aggravated robbery charge in the case. His trial is still pending.

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As a result of the investigation into the robbery, court documents say evidence was uncovered implicating an employee of the business in the alleged theft of cell phones from the store in the week leading up to the robbery. 25-year-old Mohamed Aden Hassan faces charges of aid and abet theft and aid and abet receiving stolen property. Ali also faces the same charges for allegedly conspiring with Hassan in the theft of the cell phones.

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Gallery Credit: Stacker